We were lucky to catch up with Steve Chadwick recently and have shared our conversation below.

Steve, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I picked up a camera when I was in high school. Most won’t remember that we used to shoot on film and had to develop our images manually in a darkroom. This process forced us photographers to think about each image and we tried to get it right when we snapped the shutter button. The feedback from the image would often occur days later.

One of the greatest changes in photography that accelerated my learning curve was when the technology shifted toward the digital camera. When I photograph a client now, I can look at the back of the camera and get instant feedback. I know if the image is sharp and focused. It’s also easy to check the exposure. I can shoot hundreds of pictures and learn what works and doesn’t in real-time. This advanced my learning more than any other change in photography.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a nationally awarded portrait and sports photographer in Chandler, AZ. With a strong engineering background, I see light, angles, and exposure differently than most photographers, and this benefits my clients!

I focus on high school seniors, college grads, corporate headshots, and dancers as well as helping new models build their portfolios. I am the lead photographer for one of the largest talent/modeling agencies in Arizona. This extensive work with new models means that I excel at posing my clients, so those in front of my camera don’t have to worry!

I also photograph high school sports for MaxPreps, a division of CBS. At the collegiate level, I have photographed the ASU Women’s soccer team for the last 4 years. I have also photographed professional sports including the Phoenix Suns and Rattlers.

I would say the biggest difference and where I excel in my photography is that I focus on quality over volume. I aim to deliver a natural-looking photo that truly captures my client’s personality. I believe that I can find that inner beauty in people and bring that out, and the client and I have a lot of fun along the way. I have spent years refining my retouching skills that are used in portraits and I keep the images looking very natural.

I absolutely love photography and there is a great joy in meeting new people and love when they extend trust to be photographed. When the client sees the back of the camera and says “Wow, I didn’t know I looked like that!” – as a photographer that is the best moment you can hope to achieve.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Those who hire me often say that they seek me out because of my focus on quality. I believe that my client would rather have 10 amazing photos vs 100 mediocre images. Granted in my session, I will often shoot 200-300 images and then we look for the amazing photos. Once those photos are identified then I work on each one by hand post the photoshoot and take it to the next level. This is a time-consuming process but the end results speak for themselves.

My wife and I also have three children. I find that when you are very respectful of people’s personal bubbles, they really appreciate that, regardless of age. I have learned to direct people verbally and how to pose them from a distance and people like this a lot! This manner of building trust allows those amazing images to be captured that the client absolutely loves. If you have ever worked with me in a portrait session, you know that I am very talkative (and I am actually an introvert!). But it’s my job to help generate amazing images and this works very well in supporting that goal.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I am an older photographer and learning the craft was based on who was willing to teach you that lived in your area. Today, when I want to learn something, I jump on YouTube and I am watching the best in the world cover how to photograph this look or how to incorporate this style into the toolbox. The amount of information available today is amazing! I wish I had moved faster into leveraging these digital platforms as both a way to learn and communicate as a photographer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stevechadwickphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevechadwickphotography/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/stevechadwickphotography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephencchadwick/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/steve__chadwick
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/steve-chadwick-photography-chandler